In a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), a user terminal (UE) that supports a common enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) needs to firstly compete for a common E-DCH resource before sending uplink data; after the common E-DCH resource is obtained by competing, if a timer that triggers the UE to enter a discontinuous reception (DRX) state runs, the timer is stopped; and if the UE is in the DRX state, the UE exits the DRX state and enters a continuous reception state. However, for a UE that supports physical random access channel (PRACH) access but does not support common E-DCH access, if a timer that triggers the UE to enter the DRX state runs, transmission of uplink data does not interrupt running of the timer, and if the UE is in the DRX state, transmission of uplink data does not interrupt the DRX state of the UE. The DRX state includes a state of receiving data in a discontinuous reception cycle, which is referred to as a DRX on state, and a state of not receiving data in a discontinuous reception cycle, which is referred tows DRX off state. When the UE is in the DRX on state, the UE receives downlink data; and when the UE is in the DRX off state, the UE does not receive downlink data; therefore, energy consumption can be reduced. To further reduce the energy consumption, enhanced DRX is introduced in the prior art, where the enhanced DRX refers to that there is a shorter DRX on state or a longer DRX off state in a discontinuous reception cycle. There are two specific implementation manners of the enhanced DRX: a one-layer DRX mechanism and a two-layer DRX mechanism, where the one-layer DRX mechanism refers to that after a timer that triggers a UE to enter a DRX state times out, the UE directly enters long DRX; and the two-layer DRX mechanism refers to two DRX cycles of two types, which are referred to as a short DRX cycle and a long DRX cycle in this specification, and after a timer that triggers a UE to enter the short DRX cycle times out, the UE enters the short DRX cycle, a timer that triggers the UE to enter the long DRX cycle is started at the same time, and after the timer that triggers the UE to enter the long DRX cycle times out, the UE enters the long DRX cycle. A long DRX cycle generally has a longer DRX off state, and more power is saved when a UE is in a long DRX cycle.
At present, to alleviate congestion on a common E-DCH, a fallback to PRACH (fallback to PRACH) feature is introduced to the prior art, that is, a UE that supports a common E-DCH falls back to PRACH access after receiving a “fallback to PRACH” indication sent by a base station. However, in a case in which the PRACH access is used, if the UE is in a long DRX state, the UE may delay sending downlink data, and even may enter an idle state.